"Devil frog", just from the name is enough to make people shudder, many friends will ask: what kind of animal can be called "devil"? With this question in mind, let's take a look at this animal, which is terrifying just by its name.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > prehistoric giant frog- devil frog</h1>
The devil frog is a paleontologist that lived in the late Cretaceous period, 70 million years ago. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, paleontologists in Madagascar, Africa, when digging dinosaur fossils accidentally found some skull fossil fragments that did not belong to ancient reptiles, at first, due to the small number of fossil fragments did not attract attention, with the deepening of excavations and the increase of radiation surface, more and more "peculiar" fossils were discovered. Eventually, the biologists used these fossil fragments to form a giant fossil toad, which is the devil toad (that is, the devil frog).
Judging from the restoration of the devil frog fossil, it is very similar to the current toad, with a wide mouth, except that the devil frog has two bony protrusions above its eyes. Among the existing frogs, the largest is the African giant frog, which has an average body length of about 30 centimeters and an average weight of about 3 kilograms. However, judging from the fossils of the devil frog, if its two hind legs are straightened, its body length can reach 100 cm. Paleontologists compared the size of the devil frog with that of today's frogs, concluding that this giant frog weighed up to 10 kilograms before it was born.
That said, the devil frog is the largest frog species ever discovered.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > aggressive devil frog</h1>
Many friends believe that frogs (frogs and toads) have no teeth. In fact, this understanding is wrong, because although the lower jaw of frogs does not have teeth, their upper jaws have teeth, and these teeth are relatively small and conical, called hoe teeth. However, frog teeth are not used to hunt (most of them are hunted by their tongues), but to bite insects with their tongues wrapped in them and prevent them from escaping.
The devil frog, on the other hand, is somewhat different, with sharp, long teeth and a strong jaw, so biologists deduce that the devil frog does not hunt with its tongue, but suddenly jumps up and opens its large mouth and bites its prey tightly with its teeth.
Judging from the geological layer excavated by the devil frog fossil, the devil frog does not live in an aquatic environment, but in a semi-arid area, so its skin color should be close to the earth yellow, which is conducive to its concealment and camouflage hunting.
It is precisely because of the different hunting methods that the prey of the devil frog is different from that of today's frogs, and it does not feed on mosquitoes, but on small mammals and reptiles.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >Why do you say that devil frogs eat dinosaurs? </h1>
On the Internet, there are many rumors that devil frogs eat dinosaurs, so are these claims reliable? First of all, let's take a look at why some people say that devil frogs eat dinosaurs?
In the geological layer of devil frog fossils, biologists have found some dinosaur and crocodile fossils, that is, devil frogs and dinosaurs, crocodiles are animals in the same habitat, and devil frogs are more aggressive, coupled with huge size, so many biologists believe that devil frogs may hunt and let hatched small dinosaurs.
That is to say, this is just an inference of biologists.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > so can the devil frog eat the baby dinosaur? Let's analyze it together. </h1>
So far, biologists have found and named about 770 species of dinosaurs, of which a total of 8 species of dinosaurs have been found and named in Madagascar, which are: rib cage, predatory, grooved dragon, paleodontosaur, labraurus, evil dragon, Labradarosaurus and Majunosaurus.
Since the devil frog lived 70 million years ago, let's first look at the age of these 8 dinosaurs
01 Rib hollow bird dragon, survival time span: 70 million years ago - 65 million years ago
02 Predatory dragon, survival time span: 70 million years to 65 million years ago
03 Radixurus, survival time span: 170 million to 156 million years ago
04 Paleodontosaurus, survival span: 167 million years ago to 164 million years ago
05 Laberon, span of survival: 167 million to 165 million years ago
06 Dragons, survival time span: 70 million years to 65 million years ago
07 Labra dalong, survival span: 83 million to 65 million years ago
08 Ma Junlong, survival time span: survival time span: 70 million years to 65 million years ago
▲ Rib hollow bird dragon
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > devil frogs want to eat dinosaurs also have to consider their body size</h1>
Although the devil frog straightens its hind legs to about 1 meter long, but in the normal state (hind legs are half folded), its average body length is about 40 cm, even if it has a large mouth, but the width of the large mouth is not greater than the length of the body, so too big dinosaurs let it swallow, it can not swallow. So, let's take a look at these 5 kinds of dinosaurs, is there a devil frog that can be swallowed?
The body length data of the five dinosaur species in the same habitat as the devil frog are: the average body length of Majunosaurus is about 7 meters, the average body length of Labradaosaurus is about 18 meters, the average body length of Predatory Dragon is about 10 meters, the average body length of Evil Dragon is about 2 meters, and the average body length of Rib Cage Bird Dragon is about 30 cm.
Judging from the body length data of the above 5 kinds of dinosaurs, dinosaurs with an average body length of about 10 meters, even newborn small dinosaurs have to be about 1 meter in length, which is a body shape that devil frogs cannot swallow. So the dinosaurs that devil frogs can hunt are left with dragons and ribbed birds.
The adult ribbed bird dragon is only about 30 centimeters long, and the newborn ribbed bird dragon is only a few centimeters (refer to chickens and eggs), so it is possible for the devil frog to hunt the newborn or even adult ribbed bird dragon.
The adult dragon has a body length of 2 meters, which is obviously not something that the devil frog can control, but the newborn dragon is different. According to the proportion of ostriches and cubs in existing organisms, an ostrich about 2.5 meters tall lays about 15 centimeters of eggs, and hatches a small ostrich about 20 centimeters long and weighs about 1.5 kilograms. Therefore, the cubs of the evil dragon are also very likely to become the target of the devil frog.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summary</h1>
As a very aggressive and large prehistoric giant frog, the devil frog is likely to hunt dinosaurs, but it is also limited to small dinosaurs or small dinosaur cubs. In terms of time and living space, the devil frog may prey on the cubs of the ribbed bird dragon and the evil dragon.